In 'Awra' with Youssef Howayek

To 'Awra' the family of The Woman's Voice set out, on the forenoon of a mild autumn day, to visit the artist Youssef Howayek in his retreat. We drove along the sea as far as Batroun, and from there turned up toward the mountain. The car wound its way among the half-barren mountains and hollows; here a bramble looked out at us, so harshly used by the drought that it stood nailed in its place, half burnt! And there a small terebinth, bearing among its branches the leavings of the goats' tussling...

The traveler in those parts feels that Lebanon is his alone: no coarse driver rends his ears with honking, no frantic car cuts across his road and blinds his eyes with dust... How sweet these pure sensations, for the children of Beirut to live with nature, when nothing greets their ears but the conferring of flocks of birds over a rivulet of water or a green meadow!!

We descended a valley and circled a mountain, and at last climbed a summit set apart from the road. It remained for us to walk a few minutes on foot before we looked down on Howayek's 'dara.' To call it a 'dara' — a mansion — may be to load the house with more than the word will bear; even so I shall insist on calling it a 'dara,' for the marvelous artistic touch that sets this house apart from all other Lebanese houses. No pomp and no luxury, but

Howayek's two hands have turned the rocks standing in the garden, around the house, and even on the roof into radiant statues that spread an air of sweet optimism... Here the head of a laughing girl. There a naked body reclining in innocence and purity... And there children at play... God! How did Howayek pour his soul into them, so that beneath our eyes they seem to pulse with warmth and life!! God! How did Howayek turn this wasteland into a fresh garden — into a little museum in the heart of nature!..

Long we searched for the artist without finding him, though his house stood with doors flung wide! At last he comes, ambling along in his high 'jallabiyas'... He had been tending with his own hands the apple trees and the pear and plum saplings, and the beds of carnations and roses — watering them from a scanty spring whose water he gathers in the hollows of the rocks, drop by drop!

Blessed be the creativity of striving, stubborn man!!

*

In the eyes of this artist of delicate feeling we read, without any hint from him, more than one tale of the reason for his seclusion, and of a life that is asceticism itself... A tale of a proud, noble soul colliding with the ingratitude of an ignorant society and retreating into its shell, folded in upon itself, finding the heart of the earth more tender and faithful than the heart of man. The earth gives to you when you give to it; as for man — how vile the ingratitude in his nature!

Youssef Howayek chose for himself seclusion from people, to shield his delicate sensibilities from being wounded and his self-respect from being injured... And here he is: after spending thirty years of his youth — and what a youth this elegant elder must have had! — in study and work, as a student of art and as a sculptor, until he reached a high rank in art and was given the post of professor at the French Academy... here he is, returning to his country, whose sky and earth he loved, and for whose existence he fought with the zeal of a free patriot, only to meet from its government and its people nothing but false looks, holding no recognition of his art and no appreciation of it!.. So he withdraws, wounded to the core, to a village of his, far from the towns, where none see him but those who take on hardships to reach him — and these are a few individuals... a tiny fraction of his Lebanese brethren!... And after this we have the right to claim civilization and learning!!! Is it not shame upon shame that we should possess this artistic treasure... that we should have Howayek, and not lift him high to boast of him before the world, and fill his granaries with wheat and his jars with oil and honey??

But the truth is that in art we are still illiterates!!

Q — And what is the cause of this illiteracy? I ask the artist, and the answer of the deep-searching historian comes:

A — Man by instinct expresses his thoughts in lines and colors. Perhaps the most important historical reason for the backwardness of art among the Easterners is the prohibition of idol-worship and the abolition — on religious grounds — of statues and their like; this violent campaign produced a huge void in our artistic life. The Christian religion in the West, on the contrary, worked to encourage art, and art spread and flourished... The artistic renaissance in Italy was the root of Europe's artistic civilization, and at its head stood the 'de' Medici,' the ruling family that was infatuated with art, encouraged it beyond measure, and set aside prizes for its works... This 'madness' for art, this devotion to it and struggle in its cause, brought about an artistic renaissance the like of which the East has never experienced..

Q — Has this European artistic renaissance continued to advance?

A — Europe is still even now digesting the fruits of that mighty artistic renaissance, which goes back over three or four hundred years of continuous work. The capital of European art at present is Paris. The Westerners' taste for art and their esteem for it show plainly in the effort we see among their peoples and governments to erect splendid academies of art and to spend on them generously — academies which with us are still in a primitive infancy.

Q — Do you believe there is a difference between the Eastern and the Western mentality in their grasp of art?

A — You have brought back to my mind a saying of my friend the great sculptor 'Bourdelle' — the companion of 'Rodin' — who once said to me: 'The Eastern brain is of gold, and it is riper than the Western brain. But the conditions needed to bring out these creative powers have not yet been provided for it.' Which means that we are not poor in artistic gifts, but we are ingrates: we deny these gifts and work to smother them in the cradle.

Q — Did you notice, during your study and practice of sculpture and painting in Italy and France, that the Western mentality distinguishes between woman and man as regards their giving to art?

A — Never; rather, the European mentality has made woman and man equal. By way of example, I remember that when I was working in 1911 at 'Pietrasanta' — a marble quarry in Italy frequented by sculptors — there were more girls among my companions than young men. One companion, a Dutch girl named 'Marisha,' resolved to reach such heights of artistic attainment that her statue would be accepted in the 'Peace Palace' — and she held firm in her striving and her resolve until she had what she wished.

Q — Finally, what is the road to an artistic renaissance? What are the practical ways of filling this void in the life of the rising generation?

A — That is easily done, through home and school. Let our mothers place in their children's hands, before school age, an abundance of picture books, so that they learn to taste art before they learn to read; then let the books they read be well illustrated. Let us make use of Lebanese artists to teach drawing in the schools — nor is there any objection to calling on Europeans if the need requires. Let us encourage gifted students, and draw them on through competitions and valuable art prizes... And let the walls of the schools be adorned with copies of the world's great works of art, so that our children may know who Michelangelo is, and Leonardo da Vinci...

★

These are the counsels of the artist Youssef Howayek — a trust upon my neck, which I pass on to our readers; perhaps among them are some who have ears to hear...

Edvick Jureidini Shayboub

* An ''awra' is a spring that gives little water.